Contact Us
If you'd like to know more about our work or if you'd like to contact us to discuss participating in our research, please email intersex@dcu.ie
Our Team
Dr. Tanya Ní Mhuirthile - Principal Investigator
Dr. Tanya Ní Mhuirthile joined the School of Law and Government in September 2015, having previously held positions in both Griffith College and University College Cork. A graduate of University College Cork (BCL 2000, LLB 2005, PhD 2010) and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (MDra 2002), Tanya teaches undergraduate modules in the ares of Equity, Trusts, Irish Legal System and Law and Body Politics. Tanya's research interrogates the interaction between the body and law and draws on human rights law, medical law, law and gender theory and feminist jurisprudence. Tanya is a legal consultant to both Transgender Equality Network Ireland and IntersexUK. She has advised advised Government ministers, public representatives and civil and public servants on the drafting of legislation and the development of public policy in particular in relation to the Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Act, 2012 and Gender Recognition Bill 2013, Legal Recognition of Gender Bill, 2013 and the Gender Recognition Act 2015, including: the Minister for Social Protection, the Minister of State at the Dept of Social Protection with Special Responsibility for Activitation, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and other Oireachtas members. Tanya has also advised NGOs, including Amnesty International, Irish Council of Civil Liberties, Transgender Equality Network Ireland, IntersexUK, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex-Europe (ILGA-Europe), and Transgender Europe on their policy initiatives relevant to her research expertise, both in Ireland and abroad. Internationally, Tanya has provided ad hoc legal advice to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health and the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice. In November 2017, Tanya was appointed to the Gender Recognition Act Review Group by Minister Regina Doherty. Click here to see Tanya's full profile
Prof. Anthony Staines
Anthony is Irish, married with 2 children. He started out as a neonatal paediatrician, moved into public health, and academic epidemiology. After an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School, and a PhD on spatial epidemiology in Leeds, Anthony worked at Imperial with SAHSU. He moved back to Dublin in 1997 to UCD, and set about developing research activity in Public Health, including work on injuries, infectious disease, and cancer. Latterly he has worked on child public health, health information systems, the social costs of illness, blood transfusion policy, including stock management, multiple myeloma, and the financing of primary care. Click here to see Anthony's full profile
Dr. Mel Duffy
Dr. Mel Duffy is Assistant Professor in Sociology and Sexuality Studies in the School of Nursing Psychotherapy & Community Health, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland. She teaches courses in sociology and sexuality studies at both undergraduate and graduate level. After completing her PhD in DCU in 2008, she has pursued an active research programme in qualitative research, with a particular focus on hermeneutic phenomenology. Her work focusses on LGBTQI experiences of living their lives in the world they find themselves in, writing and presenting on: lesbian health and health care; coming out; relationship and sexuality education; disability; identity; residential care and experiences of health outcomes. She holds a BA and an MA by research from National University of Ireland, Maynooth and PhD from Dublin City University. Click here to see Mel's full profile
Dr. Maria Feeney
Maria Feeney is employed at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University. Her background is in sociology and education and she is a qualified post-primary school teacher. Maria’s interests are in gender and rural studies. Her doctoral research, Pain and Distress in Rural Ireland: The Narratives of Men who Engaged in Suicidal Behaviour, employed a sociological analysis to understand the problem of rural male suicide which she observed while living in rural Ireland. She was awarded a Teagasc Walsh Fellowship to undertake her studies. Maria operationalised a highly complex research methodology to undertake her studies, and interviewed twenty-six men, aged 19-75 years who were admitted to hospital for serious suicidal behaviour. The findings, launched by Kathleen Lynch – Minister of State at the Department of Health, demonstrated that in complex ways rural life and society were implicated in men’s decisions to engage in suicidal behaviour. Maria continues to contribute to this field, and was invited to deliver a keynote address at the National Farmers’ Resilience conference last year and supports the Embrace FARM Ireland’s farm accident support network. Maria has previously taught and supervised across undergraduate and teacher education programmes in the DCU Institute of Education and the Church of Ireland Centre. Maria also worked on numerous funded research projects at the Institute. Prior to joining DCU, Maria was employed at Maynooth University’s sociology and education departments in a teaching and research capacity. She has also taught on programmes in other teacher education institutions such as the Froebel College of Education and the National College of Art and Design. Peter Murray (Maynooth University) and Maria have co-authored Church, State and Social Science in Ireland – Knowledge Institutions and the Rebalancing of Power, 1937-73 (2016). Read Prof. Diarmuid Ferriter’s review here. She has also co-authored with Dr. David Tuohy SJ Come &C Growing in the Image and Likeness of God. A Review of the Discipleship Project and the Five Marks of Mission in the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. She is a former graduate of St. Patrick's College Maynooth (B.A.Th), the National University of Ireland Maynooth (H.Dip in Ed., M.A.), and UCD (Ph.D).